Aircraft



Dec.17, 1963 w. G. MORGAN 3,114,526

AIRCRAFT Filed Nov. 9, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 n ven lor duz/i@ @ufff@alf/ A ttorney.

Dec. 17, 1963 w. G. MORGAN AIRCRAFT 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 9, 1961f l n 222/24 A ltorneys Dec. 17, 1963 w. G. MORGAN 3,114,526

AIRCRAFT Filed Nov. 9. 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Attorneys Dec. 17, 1963 w.G. MORGAN 3,114,526

AIRCRAFT Filed Nov. 9, 1961 8 Sheets-sheet 4 Attorney-S Dec. 17, 1963 Yw. G. MORGAN 3,114,526

\ AIRCRAFT Filed Nov. 9. 1961 v s sheets-sheet 5 /Z/lorneys 8Sheets-Sheet 6 Dec. 17, 1963 w. G. MORGAN AIRCRAFT Filed NOV. 9, 1961Dec. 17, 1963 w. G. MORGAN AIRCRAFT 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Nov. 9, 1961B M arneys Dec. 17, 1963 w. G. MORGAN AIRCRAFT 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 FiledNov. 9, 1961 /a Attorneys United States Patent O 3,114,526 AIRCRAFTWilliam George Morgan, Stonebridge House, Colston Ave., Bristol 1,England Filed Nov. 9, 1961, Ser. No. 151,289 Claims priority,application Great Britain Nov. 14, 1960 Claims. (Cl. 244-120) In anaircraft designed to operate at speeds of the order of Mach 2 or Mach 3it is desirable for the outline of the aircraft when flying at suchspeeds to be free of any excrescences or discontinuities. The generalshape of the nose should be a sharp cone. Now at high speeds it ispossible for the pilot to fly on instruments and to do without a forwardview, but during landing and take-off, and when maneuvering on or nearthe ground, it is very desirable for the pilot to be able to see clearlyahead. Moreover his view should then not be through a small dome orperiscope, which is liable to be dangerously obscured by small pieces ofdirt if used at landing and take-off, but through a windscreen (that isto say, a forwardly facing window) of substantial area.

According to the present invention a high speed aircraft with awindscreen has a movable panel which can be moved between a firstposition in which it lies in front of the windscreen to provide thefuselage of the aircraft with the required streamlined shape for highspeed flight, and a second position downwards from the first position inwhich it lies inside the nose of the aircraft and at least partlyexposes the windscreen.

This invention is particularly applicable to supersonic aircraft but italso applicable to subsonic aircraft. In general it is useful especiallyfor delta-wing and other aircraft which have to be upwardly inclinedfairly steeply to give the necessary angle of incidence to the wingsduring landing or take-od.

The windscreen may be completely exposed on lowering the movable panel,but in the interest of making the forward vision through the windscreenas good as possible during landing and take-off Without making thecontours of the fuselage depart to any substantial degree from the idealaerodynamic contours, the nose of the aircraft is preferably arranged sothat it can be lowered during landing and take-off. In one possiblearrangement movement of the panel alone only partly exposes thewindscreen, and the panel is carried by the nose of the aircraft so thatit is moved downwards when the nose is lowered and then fully exposesthe windscreen.

The nose is preferably pivoted to the main part of the fuselage of theaircraft so that it is lowered by a downwards swinging movement aboutthe pivot axis. As an alternative the aircraft may include a memberwhich is rigidly fixed to the main part of the fuselage and projectsforwards from the main part of the fuselage into the interior of thenose, the nose being constrained to move in an arcuate path relative tothe fuselage by links pivoted to the nose and to the member, the pathbeing such that, from a position in alignment with the fuselage, thenose can move bodily downwards and forwards; in this case the linkspreferably form a parallel motion linkage.

As compared with aircraft proposed hitherto, supersonic aircraftaccording to the present invention are an improved compromise betweenthe conflicting design characteristics resulting from the importantrequirements of supersonic aircraft, namely good streamlining duringsupersonic flight, good forward vision during landing and take-oft, anda method of providing forward vision which does not involve undulycomplicated and heavy mechanism.

Examples of aircraft according to the present inven- 3,114,526A PatentedDec. 17, 1963 ICC tion are shown in the accompanying drawings. drawings:

FIGURES l to 3 show the outlines of the front of the aircraft with thenose and panel in different positions; and

FIGURES 4 to 8 show the mechanism which controls the nose and panel;

FIGURE 9 is a side View of the complete aircraft;

FIGURE 10 is a plan view of the complete aircraft;

FIGURE 11 is a partly sectioned side view of the front of a secondaircraft with a different mechanism controlling the movable panel;

FIGURE 12 is an enlarged view of part of the mechanism shown in FIGURE11;

FIGURE 13 shows in outline the front of the aircraft shown in FIGURE 11after the panel has been lowered;

FIGURE 14 shows the outline after the nose has also been lowered;

FIGURE 15 is a side view showing further details of the aircraft shownin FIGURE 11;

FIGURE 16 is half of a view from the front of the aircraft shown inFIGURE 11;

FIGURE 17 is a diagrammatic section on the line A-A in FIGURE 15;

FIGURE 18 is a side view of the front of the fuselage of anotheraircraft, with the nose of the aircraft in an up position; and

FIGURE 19 shows the aircraft of FIGURE 18 after the nose has beenlowered.

The aircraft shown in FIGURES l to 10 is a deltawing aircraft (as shownin FIGURES 9 and 10). It has a fuselage 1@ which has a substantiallyconical nose 11 and a windscreen 12. Part of the upper surface of thenose is formed by a movable panel 14 which lies in front of thewindscreen when the aircraft is in its streamlined state suitable forsupersonic flight, as shown in FIG- URE 1. In addition to the windscreenthere are side windows 13 which form part of the normal streamlinedcontours of the fuselage and are not covered by the movable panel 14.The line XX represents the fore and aft datum line of the aircraft.

FIGURE 2 shows the panel 14 lowered Ito an intermediate position inwhich the windscreen 12 is` pmtly exposed, thus providing some forwardvision for the pilot. rThe 4front edge of the panel may be arranged tomove closer to the inside surface of the nose so as to cause the minimumdisturbance to the continuity of contour, while at the same time keepingthe rear edge close to the windscreen as shown.

FIGURE 3 shows the fuselage 10 and datum lline XX inclined upwards in aforwardly facing direction `in an attitude which might exist duringtake-off or landing.

The nose `'11 has been pivoted downwards about an axis 15, and the panel14 has been moved down-wards and forwards into the nose so that theWindscreen 12 is fully exposed.

Referring to FIGURE 4, a hydraulic jack 16 is pivoted to the main partof the fuselage at 17 and its piston rod is coupled to a pivot 18 on thenose 11. In FIGURE 4 the jack 16 is shown retracted so that the nose isin its up position.

The mechanism `associated With the panel 14 includes a hydraulic jack2G, the piston rod 21 of which is pivoted at 22 to the nose. An arm 26is pivoted at about its midpoint at 24 to 4the hydraulic jack 20, and at19 at its lower end to the matin part of the fuselage. An arm 25 forms abellacrank 'with the arm 23, and the function of this will be describedlater. The lupper end of the arm 23 is pivoted at 26 to an arm `27 whichis connected at 2:8 to the panel 14.

In order to lower the panel 14, the piston rod 21 is retracted into itsjack 20, thus causing the arm 23 rto In these rotate in acounter-clockwise direction about the pivot 19. The upper end of the arm26 thus, through the arm 27, pulls the panel forwards and downwards intothe position shown in FIGURE 5. The movement of the panel is alsocontrolled by guide means (such as rollers engaging in guide yways)lying along lines 29 and 30. FIGURE 5 shows the position of the panelwhich Iwould be adopted for subsonic flight.

`In order to achieve the position of the nose shown in FIGURE 3, afterthe panel 14 has been brought to the position shown in FIGURES 2 and 5,the hydraulic jack 16 is extended, thus causing the nose to rotate in acounter-clockwise direction about the pivot into the position shown inFIGURE 6. The movement of the nose carries ithe panel downwards andforwards -so that the windscreen becomes ful-ly exposed.

The hydraulic apparatus described above may be fitted with lockingdevices which require to be unlocked before the commencement of zanyoperation and which automatically re-lock lon completion of eachoperation. Locking devices suitable for this purpose are well known andneed no description in this context.

It will be seen .that the hydraulic systems for moving the panel 14 andthe nose 11 are completely independent of each other, so lthat if thenose control mechanism fails to operate, `the panel 14 may still beoperated to expose the windscreen as shown in FIGURES 2 and 5.

If the panel hydraulic system fails to operate, the panel is moved intothe nose by a lost-motion linkage shown in FIGURES 7 and 8. In thismechanism, a bell-crank with arms l31, 32 `is pivoted at 33 to the nose.The arm 31 is connected to an :arm 34, which is pivoted at 35 to thenose. The arm 32 is connected to la link 36 which is slotted at 37 toengage the end of the arm 25.

When the panel hydraulic system functions properly, the arm is rotatedin a counterclockwise direction so that its end moves idly along theslot 137. Then as the nose mechanism is `operated to lower the nose, thelink 36 moves to the left, and because of the position of the arm 25 inthe slot 37, no movement is imparted -to the arm.

On the other hand, if the panel hydraulic system fails, operation of thenose will cause the link 36 to Lmove to the left from the position shownin FIGURE 7 and thus rotate the arm 25 in a counter-clockvvise directionand bring the panel Llowering mechanism into operation until theposition shown in FIGURE 8 is reached.

FIGURE 11 shows the front of a fuselage in which a nose 40 is pivoted tothe main part 41 of the fuselage on a pin 42. Part of the nose is formedby a movable panel I43 which, when it is in its upper position, lies infront of a Windscreen formed by a central pane 44 (see FIGURE 16) facingsquarely in a forward direction, and panes 4S on opposite `sides of thepane 44 and facing slightly to the side. The aircraft also includes sidewindows 46 which are not covered by the panel 43.

rThe panel 43 is guided by rods 47 and 48 along which runners 49 and 50connected to the panel respectively near the front and back ends of thepanel can move. The rod 47 is curved so as to be `convex rearwards andslightly downwards so that during downward movement of the panel thefront end of the panel drops rapidly at the start and then continueswith an increasing forward movement to the nal position 51 shown inbroken lines. As a result of the initial r-apid ydropping of the frontedge of the panel, the upper edge 52 at the back of the panel movesslightly forwards and thus clears any windscreen wiper or otherobstruction which may be on the windscreen. When the panel 43 is in itsupper position as shown in FIGURE l1, it forms a seal with an inflatedtube extending around the edge of the windscreen and the edge of thenose so as to prevent the nose from being evacuated by a venturi actionduring flight.

The guide rod `47 is pivoted `at one end 53 to a structural member inthe nose, and at the other end 54 to a link 55 which is pivoted to astructural member in the nose (not shown) at 56. The presence of thelink 5S allows for expansion and contraction of the rod 47 rcsultingfrom temperature variations, and it also :allows for manufacturingtolerances in the length of the rod 47. The rod 4S is pivoted at one end57 to the main part of the fuselage, and at the other end 58 to a link59 which is pivoted to the nose at 69. The link 59 serves the samepurpose as the link 55 and in addition allows for slight movement of therod 48 which takes place when the nose is moved downwards about thepivot 42.

Movement of the panel 43 with respect to the nose is controlled by anhydraulic jack 61 having an upper end pivoted to the panel at 62, and alower' end pivoted to a member 63. The member 63 is in the form of arunner forming part of a screw jack coupled to an electric motor 64. Thescrew jack includes a screw-65 which passes through a threaded bore in apart 66 of the runner.

In normal circumstances the panel 43 would be lowered by retracting thejack 61 so that the jack takes up the position shown by the broken line67. In the event of the jack 61 failing to operate, the motor 64 is usedto drive the screw 65 of the screw jack so as to move the runner 63forwards along a guide 68 to the position shown in broken lines at 69,so as to lower the panel.

FIGURE 12 shows the ruimer 63 in detail. It will be seen that the runnerincludes four rollers 7) engaging each side of the guide 68, two rollers71 engaging the top of the guide, and two rollers 72 engaging the bottomof the guide. The jack 61 is pivoted to the runner by a pin 73.

The runners 49 and 5@ are similar to the runner 63 except that they donot incl-udc the part 66. The pins 73 of the runners 49 and 50 pivot therunners respectively to parts '74 and 75 which extend downwards from acentral structural member 76 in the panel.

FIGURE 13 shows the outline of the front of the fuselage after the panel43 has been lowered.

Movement of the nose 40 of the fuselage with respect to the main part 41of the fuselage is controlled by an hydraulic jack 77 which is pivotedat 78 to a bracket 79 on the main part of the fuselage, and is pivotedat 80 to the nose. When the jack 77 is extended, the nose is swungdownwards about the pivot 42 to the position shown in FIGURE 14.

In order to reduce air turbulence when the panel is lowered, a part ofeach side of the nose is formed by a fairing panel 39a which is pivotedto the remainder of the nose at its bottom edge 81 so that it can beswung inwards to engage the panel after the panel has been 10W- ered, asshown in FIGURE 17. Additionally, each side of the main part of thefuselage may also be formed with a fairing panel which can be swunginwards in order to reduce air turbulence after the panel 43 has beenlowered. Movement of the panels 80a or of the additional fairing panelsmay be produced automatically, as a consequent of the nose beinglowered, by mechanism operated mechanically or hydraulically or in anyother way.

It will be seen that the shape of the panel 43 in crosssection at thesection line A-A, as shown in FIGURE 17, is a smooth curve. It will beappreciated that the panel merges gradually into this curve from theangular shape which it has at its rear edge as shown in FIG- URE 16.

`FIGURES 18 and 19 show an alternative way in which the nose of anaircraft may be made movable. The fuselage in this case has a windscreen111 and also transparent panels 112 which face upwards and sideways. Anose cone 113 is movable between the upper position shown in FIGURE 18and the lower position shown in FIGURE 19. It will be seen that the nosecone partly exposes the windscreen when in its lower position. Thewindscreen is fully exposed by moving a panel 113a downwards andforwards into the nose, the panel being guided by rods 147 and 148carried by the nose and being actuated by a hydraulic jack 161, in amanner similar to the arrangement shown in FIG. 11.

The dotted lines 114 and 115 represent diagrammatically a mainstructural member of the fuselage to which is secured a structuralmember 117 whose sides are represented by 117g, 11711, 117C and 117d.Levers 118 and 119 are pivoted to the frame 117 at 12? and 121, thelever 119 having arms 122 and 123. Pivoted to the structural member 117at 124 is an hydraulic jack 125, the rod of which is attached at 126 tothe arm 123. The free ends 127 and 128 of arms 11S and 122 are pivotedto a structural member 129 of the nose cone 113. This structural member129 is represented by the lines 12911, 129D, 129e and 1290,. An up lock133 is provided which consists of parts 134 attached to the nose coneand 135 attached to the fuselage. The mechanism also includes a downlock formed by members 131 and 132 which interlock when the nose is inthe clown position.

ln FIGURE 1S where the nose cone forms a continuous streamlined contourwith the remainder of the fuselage, the hydraulic jack 125 is extendedand the nose cone up lock 133 is engaged, its members 134 and 135 beinginterloeked.

If it is required to move the nose cone to its down position, hydraulicpressure is fed to the up lock 133 in such a manner as to free themembers 134, and 135 from each other and, in sequence with thisoperation, hydraulic pressure is fed to the jack 125 so as to cause itto shorten. As the end 124 of the jack is pivoted to the member 117,which is fixed relative to the fuselage, the arms 11S and 122 are causedto rotate counterclockwise, thus moving the nose cone forwards and downto the position shown in FIGURE 19.

If it is required to move the nose cone upwards from this position, thedown lock is freed and pressure is applied to the jack so as to lengthenit and thus cause the nose cone to move upwards and rearwards.

lf it is required to hold the nose cone at some intermediate setting,this is done by holding it on the hydraulic power control of the jack.Locks could be provided for intermediate settings but, as such settingswould only be required for comparatively short periods, it may bepossible to do without them and hold the nose cone solely on thehydraulic power control. In intermediate positions the drag is not asgreat as when the nose cone is in the down position.

I claim:

1. A high speed aircraft including a fixed windscreen which slopesdownwards and forwards, a movable panel, and means mounting the panelfor movement between a irst position in which it lies in front of theWindscreen to provide the fuselage of the aircraft with the requiredstreamlined shape for high speed flight and a second position downwardsand forwards from the first position in which it lies inside the nose ofthe aircraft and at least partly exposes the windscreen, said panel inits first position having a surface forming a continuation of the nosesurface and forming a substantially smaller angle with the longitudinalaxis of the aircraft than the windscreen.

2. A high speed aircraft including a fixed windscreen which slopesdownwards and forwards, a movable panel, and means mounting the panelfor movement between a iirst position in which it lies in front of thewindscreen to provide the fuselage of the aircraft with the requiredstreamlined shape for high speed flight and a second position downwardsand forwards from the lirst position in which it lies inside the nose ofthe aircraft and at least partly exposes the windscreen, and meansmounting the nose of the aircraft for movement to a lowered position toincrease the forward and downwards vision through the windscreen.

3. A high speed aircraft including a fixed windscreen which slopesdownwards and forwards, a movable panel, and means mounting the panelfor movement between a first position in which it lies in front of thewindscreen to provide the fuselage of the aircraft with the requiredstreamlined shape for high speed liight and a second position downwardsand forwards from the first position in which it lies inside the nose ofthe aircraft and at least partly exposes the windscreen, and meansmounting the nose of the aircraft for movement to a lowered position toincrease the forward and downwards vision through the windscreen,movement of the panel alone only partly cX- posing the windscreen, thepanel mounting means being carried by the nose of the aircraft so thatthe panel is moved downwards when the nose is lowered and then fullyexposes the windscreen.

4. A high speed aircraft including a fixed windscreen which slopesdownwards and forwards, a movable panel, and means mounting the panelfor movement between a first position in which it lies in front of thewindscreen to provide the fuselage of the aircraft with the requiredstreamlined shape for high speed flight and a second p0- sitiondownwards and forwards from the first position in which it lies insidethe nose of the aircraft and at least partly exposes the windscreen, andmeans mounting the nose of the aircraft for movement to a loweredposition to increase the forward and downwards vision through thewindscreen, said aircraft having a fuselage, said nose mounting meanscomprising a member rigidly fixed to the under part of the fuselageproiecting forwards from the main part of the fuselage into the interiorof the nose, and link means pivoted to the nose and member to constrainthe nose to move in an arcuate path relative to the fuselage, the pathbeing such that, from a position in alignment with the fuselage, thenose moves bodily downwards and forwards.

5. An aircraft according to claim 4 in which the link means form aparallel motion linkage.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,778,586 Nyerges et al. Jan. 22, 1957 2,872,137 Gluharelf Feb. 3, 1959FOREIGN PATENTS 358,223 Italy Apr. 9, 1938 987,494 France Apr. 18, 1951824,560 Great Britain Dec. 2, 1959

1. A HIGH SPEED AIRCRAFT INCLUDING A FIXED WINDSCREEN WHICH SLOPESDOWNWARDS AND FORWARDS, A MOVABLE PANEL, AND MEANS MOUNTING THE PANELFOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN A FIRST POSITION IN WHICH IT LIES IN FRONT OF THEWINDSCREEN TO PROVIDE THE FUSELAGE OF THE AIRCRAFT WITH THE REQUIREDSTREAMLINED SHAPE FOR HIGH SPEED FLIGHT AND A SECOND POSITION DOWNWARDSAND FORWARDS FROM THE FIRST POSITION IN WHICH IT LIES INSIDE THE NOSE OFTHE AIRCRAFT AND AT LEAST PARTLY EXPOSES THE WINDSCREEN, SAID PANEL INITS FIRST POSITION HAVING A SURFACE FORMING A CONTINUATION OF THE NOSE